Annotation - Theatre Games, Language Games and Endgame by Helene Keyssar

Annotation of

"Theatre Games, Language Games and Endgame"

Theatre Journal, Vol. 31, no. 2 (May 1979), pg. 221-238

by Helene Keyssar

In the introduction, Keyssar reflects on a song she learned as a child, “Mairzy Doats”, and how nonsensical it seemed until she discovered a ‘recognition of the ordinariness’. Words first appearing to be an absurd rambling, “Mairzy Doats”, were now seen in a new perspective to reveal, “Mares eat oats.” This novelty song is linked to the psychology test of the “duck-rabbit.” From one angle the patient sees a duck and, when pressed to change perspective, they discover it can also be viewed as a rabbit. This “dawning of aspect” became Keyssar’s central thrust in her direction of Endgame.

Keyssar takes the reader through her rehearsal process of Endgame. She realizes that trying to find a single thematic or allegorical meaning would be futile and, instead, focuses a great deal of time on the language games of the play. Her search for language games was inspired by

a Stanley Cavell essay. Cavell states that the grounds of the play are the "ordinariness" of the events and the grammar’s "hidden literality". From this, the ensemble began to explore playing as a family and exploring ‘ordinary meanings’, rehearsing in a living room.

Through text work, they discovered numerous literary allusions within the play; Richard III, The Tempest, Jesus Christ, William Faulkner, and King Lear. Allusions were forming part of the hidden language Keyssar discussed earlier and raised questions about the intentions.

The director continued to follow the lead of Cavell with much effort being placed onto the unfixing clichés and idioms. They also discovered “new worlds” by playing with intonation and emphasis of the text Beckett had constructed for them.

The way in which the characters use language is highly important. We’re shown the characters’ wants, the power shifts, the language games and what they try and fail to say to one another. Keyssar puts it best when she says, “to deny our understanding of each other’s ordinary words is to remove ourselves from each other more completely than any physical exit could ever accomplish.”

The plays emphasis on behavior, making it a situational comedy as viewed by Keyssar, is conceived when the actors play against Beckett’s serious vision of the world. In fact, Beckett wrote in numerous slapstick routines, drawing inspiration from vaudeville bits. Keyssar worked with the ensemble to discover the routines and language games, both working to create the action.

The director concludes the essay with three discoveries made during the process; the actors were always in pain, there was a growing number of difference in tone between the English and the French performances, and that Endgame is an example of a new structure of drama because there are no recognition scenes.

This was a fantastic essay on the process of a director working on Beckett's Endgame. Keyssar takes the time to ensure that her cast of actors understand the language, and hidden language, of the play before taking it to the stage. She also adheres to Beckett's vision for the play while adding her own directorial mark.